Former President Donald Trump garnered his wealth from "a pattern of criminal activity,” writes former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz in a new book.
His tell-all book, "People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account," goes on sale next week, and it's already causing Trump to threaten lawsuits.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said that if the book, which he hasn't read, goes on sale they "will aggressively pursue all legal remedies against you and your book publisher, Simon & Schuster," the New York Post reported last month.
Pomerantz writes that Trump is “guilty of numerous felony violations." He goes on to say that it is a “grave failure of justice not to hold [Trump] accountable by way of criminal prosecution."
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Pomerantz says in the book that while working to investigate Trump's involvement in the Trump Org. fraud the investigation “developed evidence convincing us that Donald Trump had committed serious crimes.”
When former DA Cy Vance retired, Alvin Bragg came in, refusing to pursue charges against Trump personally. Bragg allegedly commented that he “‘could not see a world’ in which we would indict Trump and call Michael Cohen as a prosecution witness,” Pomerantz writes. He along with Carey Dunne resigned, with the former issuing a letter of resignation to sound the alarm on the decisions by Bragg.
“Neither Carey nor I are rash, immature, starry-eyed young lawyers,” he wrote in the resignation. “You need to respect our judgment, our decades of experience as prosecutors and defense lawyers, and the work that we have put into the case.”
The DA is now rethinking the consideration, promising that he never dismissed the possibility of charges.
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“After closely reviewing all the evidence from Mr. Pomerantz’s investigation, I came to the same conclusion as several senior prosecutors involved in the case, and also those I brought on: More work was needed,” Bragg said in a statement according to the Times.
Pomerantz writes that the Trump probe “turned into the legal equivalent of a plane crash,” blaming Bragg not for driving it into the ground but "pilot error."
“Mr. Pomerantz’s plane wasn’t ready for takeoff," Bragg shot back, according to the Times. Bragg is also miffed that Pomerantz didn't get permission to publicize certain information. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bragg is concerned that the book will compromise the Trump investigation. His office has said that Cohen could be giving additional ammunition for Trump lawyers to go after him. As evidenced by Trump and his lawyers in past cases, it's likely they would do it anyway.
Publisher Simon & Schuster says they don't believe the information will “prejudice any investigation or prosecution of Donald Trump."
Bragg's aides also attacked Cohen, saying that he was prone to leaking information to the media. Mr. Cohen refuses to give any information about what he discussed with Bragg personally.
Pomerantz's story explains how Cy Vance coaxed him out of retirement to work specifically on the Trump case. He called the investigation "floundering" when he began, but was able to hone in on the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. That seemed too risky to prosecute, however, which is why he began to focus on the federal racketeering laws on the books.
"New York State’s version of the federal racketeering statute, known as enterprise corruption, 'was an ideal vehicle for prosecuting Donald Trump and the Trump Organization,' the Times cites Pomerantz writes. Vance considered the idea "bold" but others were unconvinced. Vance then planned to leave office and wanted to make a final decision of whether to prosecute Trump before leaving.
"As the investigators narrowed the focus to whether Mr. Trump inflated the value of his hotels, golf clubs and office buildings, Mr. Pomerantz relied on the New York attorney general’s office for help," said the report.
Attorney General Letitia James was “way ahead of” the DA's office, he said, noting that he became the “raving lunatic” begging that they work together on the case.
“The information we received from the attorney general’s office would become hugely important,” he explains.
Bragg took over in early 2022 and Pomerantz was told there was no path forward. But now that he has decided to go after Trump for the hush money case, Pomerantz calls a potential indictment of Trump for that case "very peculiar and unsatisfying end to this whole saga.”
